The Umbrella Academy Almost Made Time Travel Shows Look Easy

by

Netflix boasts a diverse selection of fantasy shows, and one in particular cleverly portrays time travel. This show, along with several others considered among the best TV has to offer, successfully combines fantasy with other genres to create truly original stories.

Netflix’s hit show, The Umbrella Academy, is a popular fantasy series adapted from the comic book created by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá. The show centers around seven adopted siblings who form a team, each with unique superpowers, and explores the challenges they face in their personal lives. One of these siblings, Five, played by Aidan Gallagher, can control space and time, giving him the ability to teleport and eventually travel through time.

Time travel is a key element throughout all three seasons of The Umbrella Academy, with the team constantly working to avert global catastrophes at various points in history. The show presents time travel as relatively straightforward… that is, until the most recent season.

The Umbrella Academy Got Time Travel Right Between Seasons 1-3

It was so strange seeing my siblings again after all those years. Our childhood with Sir Reginald Hargreeves wasn’t exactly sunshine and roses, and then Five just vanished! So, when we all came back together for Reginald’s funeral, it was already heavy. But then, boom, Five just showed up – looking exactly like he did when we were thirteen years old. It was a total shock, and honestly, a little unsettling!

The science behind how Five regained a thirteen-year-old body from being a sixty-something man is complicated, but time travel is the core of it. The Umbrella Academy kept Five’s powers straightforward, showing him moving through time instead of physically jumping around. Traveling to the past was the hardest part, but Five eventually figured it out.

At the conclusion of The Umbrella Academy‘s first season, it was logical that Five, having mastered his time travel, would bring his siblings along with him. While time travel was presented fairly simply throughout seasons 1 through 3 and easy for viewers to understand, the show acknowledged that complications and surprises would still occur within its established rules.

In Season 2 of The Umbrella Academy, the Hargreeves siblings arrived in Dallas, Texas, at various times between 1960 and 1963, once again tasked with preventing the apocalypse. While aware that altering the past could impact the future, the show revealed that changing the past doesn’t just change a future – it creates an entirely new timeline, which is precisely what happened at the end of the season.

Season 3 continued the story of the world’s potential end and the Hargreeves’ attempts to prevent it. However, instead of focusing on the act of time travel itself, this season delved into the repercussions of their previous journeys. It tackled the tricky subject of time paradoxes, showing how their actions had altered the timeline and demonstrating that every choice has consequences.

Time travel was a strong element of The Umbrella Academy, especially in its first three seasons – it was complex but understandable, thrilling, and deeply connected to the characters. Unfortunately, the final season lost sight of what made it work so well.

The Umbrella Academy’s Time Travel Only Went Wrong In Season 4

The final season of The Umbrella Academy felt hurried and confusing because it was much shorter than previous seasons. Season 4 started with a time jump that skipped over important unanswered questions from the season 3 finale, like what happened to Sloane and why the Hargreeves family and Lila lost their powers.

Season 4 of The Umbrella Academy revealed the truth about Ben’s past, which in turn explained the mysterious “Jennifer incident” and how it affected the different realities created throughout the series. Ultimately, the show concluded that the only way for the Hargreeves siblings to repair the damage caused by their time travel was through sacrifice.

The finale of The Umbrella Academy created some confusing plot holes regarding time travel, contradicting rules established in earlier seasons. While the show previously handled time travel exceptionally well – making it both understandable and surprising – the ending felt unsatisfying and didn’t live up to the strong foundation built over the first three seasons.

Read More

2026-04-09 17:49